[PR] Virgin Territory - A Kickstart Campaign

[Gargoyle]

Hi folks. Call of Duty - A Paladin Sourcebook should be out this month on RPGNow.com, but I don't know what date yet. It's pretty much done, but we're waiting on more interior art and doing some extra playtesting, editing, and tweaking. Until then, here's a glimpse at our next product.

Virgin Territory – A Kickstart Campaign(tm) is the first in a series of mini-campaign settings. Kickstart Campaigns are designed to help you start a campaign quickly without restricting your creativity with too many details. Virgin Territory has just enough to get your game going: maps, a pantheon of deities, a detailed description of the local region, notes on the surrounding area, adventure hooks, and an introductory adventure for 1st level characters that can be adjusted for starting at higher levels.

Kickstart Campaigns are designed to get your game moving, and are not complete campaign settings. The details are up to you…

As our first Kickstart Campaign, Virgin Territory is designed for a beginning DM starting their first game.
downloadable PDF, price, size, and release date to be determined

Let us know what you'd like to see in Virgin Territory, and in future Kickstart Campaigns. Each campaign will have a different theme. The theme of Virgin Territory is "New DM's running their first campaign", but future themes will focus on certain types of worlds (low magic, high fantasy, cinematic, etc). - Thanks!

 

[Katerek]

Great idea, look forward to seeing it.

 

[Darrell]

Let us know what you'd like to see in Virgin Territory, and in future Kickstart Campaigns.

Heh. Remember...you asked.

[MILD RANT MODE]

What _I'd_ like to see in 'Virgin Territory,' and in future Kickstart Campaigns, is a bound, paper-and-ink product. I love mini-campaign settings. This product is one I'd buy in a heartbeat if it were a paper product, but I won't be buying it for the simple reason that it is a PDF. I may be a grognard, but I oppose PDFs by their very concept. I won't download the free ones--why would I purchase one? In my view, a poorly-written 32-page physical product is inherently superior to, and worth more--monetarily and otherwise--than a brilliantly-written 200-page electronic download.

[/MILD RANT MODE]

If you guys ever start releasing physical product, or cut a deal with another company to release your PDFs as real products (as several other companies have), I will pick up 'Virgin Territory,' as well as any other Kickstart Campaigns you release; but, until then...

Regards,
Darrell King

 

[jmucchiello]

Re: Re: [PR] Virgin Territory - A Kickstart Campaign

In my view, a poorly-written 32-page physical product is inherently superior to, and worth more--monetarily and otherwise--than a brilliantly-written 200-page electronic download.

BOGGLE.

 

[cthuluftaghn]

I strongly prefer the feel of a good, paper book in my hands. HOWEVER, the .pdf is an excellent way for creative, talented writers and artists to be able to share their work with fellow gamers, when they don't have $ thousands $ to invest in the project.

I think "Virgin Territory" is a great idea. What would I like to see? 1" square maps. Colorful, creative 1" maps to plop down on the game table. They add SO much to a game. It's one thing to tell your players they're on a 40' stretch of beach, and there's a palm tree here, and a rock there. It's another to lay down a full-color rendition of the beach in front of them!

My players love that kind of stuff.

 

[Gargoyle]

Re: Re: [PR] Virgin Territory - A Kickstart Campaign

Heh. Remember...you asked.

Yep. And I want all the feedback I can get, good and bad. So everyone fire away.

[MILD RANT MODE]

What _I'd_ like to see in 'Virgin Territory,' and in future Kickstart Campaigns, is a bound, paper-and-ink product. I love mini-campaign settings. This product is one I'd buy in a heartbeat if it were a paper product, but I won't be buying it for the simple reason that it is a PDF. I may be a grognard, but I oppose PDFs by their very concept. I won't download the free ones--why would I purchase one? In my view, a poorly-written 32-page physical product is inherently superior to, and worth more--monetarily and otherwise--than a brilliantly-written 200-page electronic download.

[/MILD RANT MODE]

If you guys ever start releasing physical product, or cut a deal with another company to release your PDFs as real products (as several other companies have), I will pick up 'Virgin Territory,' as well as any other Kickstart Campaigns you release; but, until then...

Regards,
Darrell King

That's great because after our products prove themselves as PDF's there is a very good chance they will appear in print. But not right away.

For instance, we're doing a free web expansion for Beyond Monks. After that's done, probably next month, we're going to revise the book by adding the new material and replacing the art, and then will send the revised copy to the printers. I don't know when that will happen, 'cause we're new to all this, but it will happen.

The way I see it, PDF is a way to get products available to you sooner, a way to market test products, and a way for me to be a d20 publisher without a lot of money.

But I really like printed books, and I'd be willing to bet that I want my stuff on store shelves more than you do. So I hope to have you as a customer in the future.

 

[Crothian]

Virgin Territory – A Kickstart Campaign(tm) is the first in a series of mini-campaign settings.

By setting do you mean something specific, or will these be able to be used in any setting like Forgotten Realms or Scarred Lands?

 

[2WS-Steve]

Heya Gargoyle,

I thought you already proved yourself quite well with "Beyond Monks". One of my playtesters/artists is using it pretty extensively.

Anyway keep up the good work and looking forward to the next one.

 

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Although i have no real suggestions for you i would like to say that this is a brilliant approch the campaign worlds. I can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[Gargoyle]

Re: Re: [PR] Virgin Territory - A Kickstart Campaign

By setting do you mean something specific, or will these be able to be used in any setting like Forgotten Realms or Scarred Lands?

The settings will be unique from existing settings, but with very little work you could use the material in Kickstart Campaigns, such as adventures, regional descriptions, NPCs, etc in an existing setting. Many of the settings will describe in detail areas that are remote or somehow isolated, like a chain of islands or a valley surrounded by dangerous mountains. This is to keep players from wandering too far too fast. It also makes these little mini-settings very transferable.

Primarily though, these books will be designed to help a DM get a unique, mostly homebrewed, campaign setting of their own going. The themes of the book reinforce that the worlds are different with actual game effects. A high magic world will have some variant rules to make it feel like a high magic world, for example. The variant rules are optional though, and the settings will work without them using nothing but core rules.

Hope I answered your question.